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timepiececlockEDIT#1: Let me squeeze in a quick reaction to Naruto episode 93:
Dear Naruto creator[s]:
1. That whole thing with Kabuto at the end of last ep was a fake-out? Damn you for getting my hopes up! Not that I didn't consider it as a possible fake-out, but... damn you for getting even half my hopes up!
2. Kabuto is cool. He is so my anime boyfriend of the moment. Until Kakashi wakes up and then I'll two time them.
3. Naruto needs a hug. ::hugs Naruto:: Poor boy. He's only twelve years old. Gotta remember that.
4. I love how Kabuto deliberately tried to provoke Naruto, though I don't know exactly why he did it. Maybe to get him on the sidelines now so he doesn't have to worry about a sneak attack from him later while in a fight with someone else?
5. Kabuto is really cool. And so damn smug. Someone needs to beat down and dominate his ass. Like, say... Kakashi.
Thank you again for the fun time,
Rashaka
P.S. Dudes, what was up with your animation on this episode?
------------
And now back to your regularly scheduled program of Saiyuki DVD volume 2, commentary.
Oh my god, this is so bad. I keep laughing at it because it's so terrible.
I mean, there are a few jems scattered throughout...
-Droopy-Eyed Monk's bizarre reactions to people. All of them. And to social situations.
-The cussing all around.
-The English voice actors, who play up every bad dialogue moment for all it's worth, with gusto and a wink.
-And Hakkai, of course. In fact, Hakkai is the only one that I have no problem with. Probably because he's really Chichiri from Fushigi Yuugi, version -2.1 (i.e., minus 5 years). I always liked Chichiri. Although Hakkai seems definitely younger than Chichiri. But that's not a surpise either, I guess. That he seems younger. Chichiri, beyond the blood-soaked past and smiling goofy face and magic powers and concerned seriousness, was always all business and duty and serving the cause. That's why he was the de facto leader. At the end of the day, Chichiri knew exactly who and what he was and what he had to do. Hakkai seems to have the bloody past and smiling goofy face and magic powers and concerned seriousness, but hella less direction in life.
...but they can't compare to the overall badness of this show. Bad writing, bad art, inconsistant art (which is even worse), bad random whiny broodyness (Goyjo) , lame and unrealistic character reactions to situations, and a seriously depressing tendency to waste opportunities for good writing. There are so many moments---in every epsiode!-- when this show could be fantastic and fun. Yet, it has a hit & miss ratio of 1:8. That's sad.
It's even more sad, I think, because I watched it not long after watching the new Naruto episode. And even with weird animation errors this episode, Naruto is a hundred thousand times better than Saiyuki.
Anyway, back to the last few very stupid episodes: Can we say, Sailor Moon, anyone? This whole "two bands fight each other then fight giant pink frog" thing just rang of SM to me. And without the cheesy superhero outfits. Instead it was almost-cool-and-sexy outfits, but the cheesyness all the same.
Listen, characters of Saiyuki: If you're not going to run around with a giant bow on your chest and gloves that go to your elbows, you just don't deserve the right to say such cheesy lines. You haven't earned them. Comprendez?
But, yeah.... I'm still watching this show. And in all likelihood I'm going to ask Netflix to send out for the third disc tomorrow. Why?
Free anime. And Hakkai the younger-and-not-quite-as-awesome-Chichiri.
---
EDIT #2: Due to thoughts of Chichiri from FY above, self has now spiralled into sad wanna-cry thoughts about that series, which self hasn't done in a long long time. Because that has some really sad sad stuff in season 2. I have yet to watch another anime that spent so much time making me like so many characters only to kill so many of them off. I admired write Yuu Watase for going through with it, but it hurt me to watch it.
I've been looking for the box set of Fushigi Yuugi's second season on DVD, but for 4 years now I've never seen it for less than $175. That's just too much for 13 hours of video. ::cries for insane anime prices::
I know I've compared Saiyuki to FY a couple times now, but really, Saiyuki hasn't earned the comparison yet. Even if their art design is similar. What FY had consistantly from the first episode onward that Saiyuki doesn't is a clear, tight plot. And then the further you got, the more deliciously complicated the plot became until near the end of the two-season show, you felt like you had just invested months of your life into an 800 page fantasy adventure novel and if you didn't get to read the last 3 chapters someone was going to die and it was going to be a bloody, bloody death. Saiyuki, on the other hand, has a very thin plot so far. I've sat through 9 episodes by now, and I have an idea of what the plot is (basically it's a quest to stop evil in the west that's making the demon population go crazy. That's it-- a quest to stop evil. No, really, that's all.) but it's pretty vague and a lot of the things that happen along the way don't seem to have too much to do with it. By the time I got this far into FY, four of the Suzaku warriors had been found, one character had been dragged out of the closet, a big betrayal was under way, and the major character relationships were already under serious strain. This far into Saiyuki, however... all we've done is learned some back stories, met the sub-villains, and wasted way too much time rescuing bystanders.
Also, the characters actually acted a bit more realistically to their situations in FY. When Miaka learns that Yui has willfully betrayed her, she goes bonkers. And they were just best friends. What the hell was up with Gojyo's reaction to meeting his brother after all these years, and learning he works with their enemy? NOTHING! There was so little reaction I was doing successive ::foreheadpalm::s. It was stupid and lame. I mean, I even could have bought into the idea of a minimalist reaction if it has been presented in a way that actually made sense and didn't leave me going, "Um, WTF?"
----
EDIT #3: I could be wrong about this, but I think Gojyo is secretly in love with Hakkai and Hakkai is secretly in love with Droopy Eyed. Just a theory I'm throwing out as food for thought.
Dear Naruto creator[s]:
1. That whole thing with Kabuto at the end of last ep was a fake-out? Damn you for getting my hopes up! Not that I didn't consider it as a possible fake-out, but... damn you for getting even half my hopes up!
2. Kabuto is cool. He is so my anime boyfriend of the moment. Until Kakashi wakes up and then I'll two time them.
3. Naruto needs a hug. ::hugs Naruto:: Poor boy. He's only twelve years old. Gotta remember that.
4. I love how Kabuto deliberately tried to provoke Naruto, though I don't know exactly why he did it. Maybe to get him on the sidelines now so he doesn't have to worry about a sneak attack from him later while in a fight with someone else?
5. Kabuto is really cool. And so damn smug. Someone needs to beat down and dominate his ass. Like, say... Kakashi.
Thank you again for the fun time,
Rashaka
P.S. Dudes, what was up with your animation on this episode?
------------
And now back to your regularly scheduled program of Saiyuki DVD volume 2, commentary.
Oh my god, this is so bad. I keep laughing at it because it's so terrible.
I mean, there are a few jems scattered throughout...
-Droopy-Eyed Monk's bizarre reactions to people. All of them. And to social situations.
-The cussing all around.
-The English voice actors, who play up every bad dialogue moment for all it's worth, with gusto and a wink.
-And Hakkai, of course. In fact, Hakkai is the only one that I have no problem with. Probably because he's really Chichiri from Fushigi Yuugi, version -2.1 (i.e., minus 5 years). I always liked Chichiri. Although Hakkai seems definitely younger than Chichiri. But that's not a surpise either, I guess. That he seems younger. Chichiri, beyond the blood-soaked past and smiling goofy face and magic powers and concerned seriousness, was always all business and duty and serving the cause. That's why he was the de facto leader. At the end of the day, Chichiri knew exactly who and what he was and what he had to do. Hakkai seems to have the bloody past and smiling goofy face and magic powers and concerned seriousness, but hella less direction in life.
...but they can't compare to the overall badness of this show. Bad writing, bad art, inconsistant art (which is even worse), bad random whiny broodyness (Goyjo) , lame and unrealistic character reactions to situations, and a seriously depressing tendency to waste opportunities for good writing. There are so many moments---in every epsiode!-- when this show could be fantastic and fun. Yet, it has a hit & miss ratio of 1:8. That's sad.
It's even more sad, I think, because I watched it not long after watching the new Naruto episode. And even with weird animation errors this episode, Naruto is a hundred thousand times better than Saiyuki.
Anyway, back to the last few very stupid episodes: Can we say, Sailor Moon, anyone? This whole "two bands fight each other then fight giant pink frog" thing just rang of SM to me. And without the cheesy superhero outfits. Instead it was almost-cool-and-sexy outfits, but the cheesyness all the same.
Listen, characters of Saiyuki: If you're not going to run around with a giant bow on your chest and gloves that go to your elbows, you just don't deserve the right to say such cheesy lines. You haven't earned them. Comprendez?
But, yeah.... I'm still watching this show. And in all likelihood I'm going to ask Netflix to send out for the third disc tomorrow. Why?
Free anime. And Hakkai the younger-and-not-quite-as-awesome-Chichiri.
---
EDIT #2: Due to thoughts of Chichiri from FY above, self has now spiralled into sad wanna-cry thoughts about that series, which self hasn't done in a long long time. Because that has some really sad sad stuff in season 2. I have yet to watch another anime that spent so much time making me like so many characters only to kill so many of them off. I admired write Yuu Watase for going through with it, but it hurt me to watch it.
I've been looking for the box set of Fushigi Yuugi's second season on DVD, but for 4 years now I've never seen it for less than $175. That's just too much for 13 hours of video. ::cries for insane anime prices::
I know I've compared Saiyuki to FY a couple times now, but really, Saiyuki hasn't earned the comparison yet. Even if their art design is similar. What FY had consistantly from the first episode onward that Saiyuki doesn't is a clear, tight plot. And then the further you got, the more deliciously complicated the plot became until near the end of the two-season show, you felt like you had just invested months of your life into an 800 page fantasy adventure novel and if you didn't get to read the last 3 chapters someone was going to die and it was going to be a bloody, bloody death. Saiyuki, on the other hand, has a very thin plot so far. I've sat through 9 episodes by now, and I have an idea of what the plot is (basically it's a quest to stop evil in the west that's making the demon population go crazy. That's it-- a quest to stop evil. No, really, that's all.) but it's pretty vague and a lot of the things that happen along the way don't seem to have too much to do with it. By the time I got this far into FY, four of the Suzaku warriors had been found, one character had been dragged out of the closet, a big betrayal was under way, and the major character relationships were already under serious strain. This far into Saiyuki, however... all we've done is learned some back stories, met the sub-villains, and wasted way too much time rescuing bystanders.
Also, the characters actually acted a bit more realistically to their situations in FY. When Miaka learns that Yui has willfully betrayed her, she goes bonkers. And they were just best friends. What the hell was up with Gojyo's reaction to meeting his brother after all these years, and learning he works with their enemy? NOTHING! There was so little reaction I was doing successive ::foreheadpalm::s. It was stupid and lame. I mean, I even could have bought into the idea of a minimalist reaction if it has been presented in a way that actually made sense and didn't leave me going, "Um, WTF?"
----
EDIT #3: I could be wrong about this, but I think Gojyo is secretly in love with Hakkai and Hakkai is secretly in love with Droopy Eyed. Just a theory I'm throwing out as food for thought.
